Tiga president Fred Hasson and psychologist Guy Cumberbatch were today called to speak in defence of Rockstar at the appeal against the BBFC's decision to refuse certification for Manhunt 2.

Tiga CEO Fred Hasson and psychologist Guy Cumberbatch were
today called to speak in defence of Rockstar at the appeal
against the BBFC's decision to refuse certification for
Manhunt 2.

Hasson told the Video Appeals Committee panel he had played
four levels of the game and was "surprised at how tame it is
compared to some very graphical scenes I've seen in other
games which have received certification. I expected it to be
a lot worse‚¶ I can't believe that this has been
singled out as something that is worth banning."

The BBFC's representative said Hasson had accused the board
of making its decision based on articles in publications such
as the Daily Mail, and asked the Tiga boss if he stood by
this allegation.

"I can only come to the conclusion that is the case," Hasson
replied. "Having seen the content of the game, I can't see
any other reason why they've done that."

Next up was chartered psychologist Guy Cumberbatch, who has
conducted extensive research into the issue of violence in
the media. He told the panel that although playing games does
produce adrenaline, "By and large, the plot and narrative is
relatively unimportant for most videogamers. Their emotional
involvement in the games is relatively weak.

"There's a scatterbrain logic which is applied to videogames
- if [people] play, they must be violent," Cumberbatch
continued. "By and large, people who are attracted to media
violence tend to be less sensitive and more
thick-skinned‚¶ Most of these people are nerd
characters, they tend to be anoraks."

Cumberbatch said he conducted a survey in which the 86
respondents all had experience of at least two 18-rated films
and two 18-rated games. They played Manhunt 2 for 15 minutes
and were shown a compilation of clips, put together by
Take-Two, representing different levels in the game.

The respondents were then asked whether they thought Manhunt
2 was more, less or equally as violent as other games or
films. While 68 per cent thought there were other games
equally as violent, 80 per cent said there were equally
violent films. According to Cumberbatch, a number of
respondents spontaneously suggested "people are going to be
disappointed" at the level of violence if the game is
released.

"Certainly no one's going to suggest Manhunt 2 is one of the
least violent games around," Cumberbatch said.

"In my own limited experience of playing Manhunt 2, it's
fairly sanitised as a work compared with what you might
expect in a film."

The BBFC will be defending its decision as the hearing
continues this afternoon.

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